I’ve made no secret that I feel like Disney has failed to represent people with disabilities fairly on Disney+, but following the shockwaves of Apple winning an Oscar for their film “CODA”, which starred a predominantly deaf cast, I figured I’d give Disney some help on representing people with disabilities. From adding a “Celebrate Disabled Stories” collection to casting disabled actors in disabled roles, here’s how Disney+ can improve its Disability representation.

Adapt More Stories Around Disabilities:

With more and more books getting published by disabled writers every year, Disney should do everything in their power to snatch up rights to adapt these stories into TV series, movies and short films. Disney+ has snatched up the rights to “Out Of My Mind” and “A Song For A Whale”, which star characters with disabilities, but there are many more books they could adapt to educate kids about disabilities and acceptance of those disabilities.

Some Titles Include:

• Susan Laughs
• My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay
• What Happened To You?
• Hello Goodbye Dog
• Roll With It
• This Beach Is Loud!
• Sleepovers
• A Boy Called Bat

Disney got their start as a company by adapting old fairytales and fables, and in the last century, they have continued to adapt books, including the likes of “Diary Of A Wimpy Kid”, “Percy Jackson” and “The Chronicles Of Narnia”, so adapting books about people with disabilities would be a huge progression for entertainment and readers.

Avoid Stereotypes:

This is a key point which can not be overstated, but Disney needs to avoid stereotypes of people with disabilities to help end the stigmatisation of disabilities. Some examples of stereotypes include autistic people being insanely smart or extremely childish, diabetic people being overweight, and blind people having a powerful sixth sense. These stereotypes are harmful, and there are many more stereotypes which cause people with disabilities to feel mocked and isolated from the rest of society. Avoiding these stereotypes will help us improve acceptance of one another.

Consult People With Disabilities:

This is very important, but the best way to represent people with disabilities is to actually talk to us about our experiences and try to understand what it feels like to have a disability which affects your ability to walk, talk, hear, see, or a plethora of other things different disabilities stop people from being capable of doing.

Give Us a Dedicate Disney+ Collection:

Disney+ has collections of content like “Celebrate Black Stories”, so why shouldn’t Disney also add a “Celebrate Disabled Stories” collection? With content like “Echo”, “Out Of My Mind”, and “Song For A Whale” being made for Disney+ and with several already existing productions like Loop, Avatar, Amy and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.

Disney+ can also showcase select episodes of TV series which feature storylines about characters with disabilities, including “Turner and Hooch”, “Raven’s Home”, and “Fancy Nancy”. Many people will argue there’s not enough content made by Disney which follows characters with disabilities, this is true, but Disney should offer this collection for those of us who want TV shows and movies about our disabilities and who want to see stories about people like us.

Final Thoughts:

As someone with multiple disabilities, I have always wanted to see myself in Disney’s content, it took me till I turned seventeen, but then I finally saw Disney start making progress with the short film “Loop”, then I looked through the Disney+ catalogue that was available in my country every day trying to find more content like it. As Disney+ has grown, they’ve added more content focused on characters with disabilities, including “Daredevil”, “Moon Knight”, and the upcoming “Percy Jackson” series.

Disney spends billions annually on producing brand-new movies and series, so would it really cost Disney that much to create some authentic content focused on stories around disabilities? Disney should try to make at least one series or movie about a character with disabilities in the lead for every four series or movies made that aren’t led by disabled characters. Disney needs to also bring in a quota for casting disabled actors in all programming made across all their streaming services and linear channels.

People with disabilities have always been mocked and used as punching bags in many movies and TV series for decades. One thing is clear to me, Disney only bought the rights to “Out Of My Mind” because of the success that Apple had with the film “CODA”, but if Disney play this game right, then they will be embraced by disabled communities around the world,

What do you think? Should Disney+ use this list as a way of improving its disability representation?

Ethan Holloway

Ethan is an autistic, type one diabetic, Disney fan who grew up with properties like Iron Man, The Lion King, Aladdin and Toy Story. Ethan wants to someday get his own books/films/TV shows made to inspire those with disabilities to be themselves, but for now, Ethan covers his opinions on Disney, their content and how Disney+ can improve.

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